my days with tyrants

Three months later.

Constantinople.

"Is there really a new Crusade?"

Ambassador Yang, dressed as a Tatar businessman and wearing a dirty torn leather robe, led a horse and walked through this ancient city...

Of course he couldn't miss this kind of war.

Daming had nothing to do, so the little princess took care of it by herself.

Although the appearance of a yellow man in Constantinople is indeed somewhat eye-catching, it does not mean that no one has seen it here. This is the center of East-West trade, and it is not uncommon for merchants from the Golden Horde to come here.You must know that Na Hai, a powerful official of the Golden Horde, even married the illegitimate daughter of the Eastern Roman Emperor. Trade between here and the Golden Horde has always been frequent. Although Yang Feng looks very different from the people of the Golden Horde, he is still Not to be regarded as a monster.

At this time, soldiers from all over the world gathered in Constantinople.

Zhu Di had already issued an ultimatum to the Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel II at this time last time.

Later, a fort was built at Uskudar across the strait, blocking the strait with heavy artillery, forcing passing ships to pay taxes, and even bombarding Constantinople with artillery from time to time...

Of course, it's not very powerful.

After all, the distance from Usküdar Fort to Constantinople is more than 3000 meters. Even a specially cast long cannon has no kinetic energy when it hits such a distance. At most, it is just a lead ball thrown from mid-air. Whoever hits it will be unlucky.In fact, less than a hundred artillery shells were fired into the city in more than a year, killing two people. At this time, the city was vast and sparsely populated, so it was considered good luck to hit two people. The fear of the Ming army's artillery dropped sharply, which also strengthened Manuel II's determination to defend.For this reason, he even went to Old Rome to seek the support of the Vatican Pope. The Venetians and Genoese rarely united to support him. After all, the Zhao Sheng Army in the founding of the state seriously affected their interests.In the end, with the lobbying of them, as well as Poland, Hungary and other countries that were facing the threat of Tokhtamysh, the Pope finally issued a call to support Constantinople.

Of course, it's just a call.

At this time, the pope’s influence declined sharply…

They had just returned from Avignon less than 30 years ago!
The Renaissance movement had begun.

And Milan had just suffered a large-scale plague outbreak.

Under such circumstances, it is simply impossible for the Holy See to form a new Crusade. The Holy See can only issue a call, and it is up to them who will come.

But obviously there are.

Groups of mercenaries carrying crossbows, spears and other weapons.

A poor knight wearing chain-plate mixed armor and a barrel helmet, riding a horse and accompanied by his retinue...

If you weren't poor, you wouldn't still be wearing a bucket helmet.

Only soldiers with armed clothes.

……

On the streets of Constantinople at this moment, soldiers or armed ronin from all over Europe are swaggering through the streets with confidence. In fact, most of them can only be said to be armed ronin. After all, Europe has not really emerged from the Black Death at this time. In the shadow of poverty, most countries are struggling in the quagmire of poverty.

Want to get rich?
Then we can only come out and fight hard.

After losing Jerusalem, new routes have not yet been opened, and there are not many places where we can fight.

The Holy See boasted that defending Constantinople was the way to salvation, and also preached that once the devil army from the east was defeated, there would be endless wealth waiting for them to divide up. In this case, many extremely poor wandering knights ran away Come test the waters.

They also made the place a mess, fighting, robbing and even robbing women, just like the Crusaders who captured the city.

But Manuel II didn't dare to care.

On the one hand, they are here to help him, and on the other hand, he has thousands of soldiers under his command and can't control them.

whatever!
As for his strongest ally at this time, it turned out to be the Ottomans, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman who controlled Adrianople. Manuel II was originally a vassal of the Ottomans...

Well, at this time, Eastern Rome had long been reduced to a vassal of the Ottomans. Bayezid even summoned other Christian vassal monarchs to kill them together, but in the end they were let go.Manuel II even served as a hostage for the Ottomans and led troops to follow the Ottomans to attack the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire. As for his rejection of Zhu Di, it was entirely because he knew nothing about Zhu Di.Suddenly a man came up and asked him to give up all his titles and surrender to him. No one could accept it. If Zhu Di gave him some time to understand, he might have obeyed, but the problem was that Zhu Di didn't give him any time.

Immediately afterwards, artillery was set up to bombard the city.

At this time, he already knew, but there was no room for retreat.

Because the city is not so much his as it is a Venetian colony.

Across the Golden Horn is the Genoese colony of Pella.

And Suleiman also surrendered to him...

By this time Sultan Theosman had become a vassal of the Eastern Roman emperor.

In addition, the Crusade called by the Pope has been organized by the King of Hungary, and the Serbs will soon go south for reinforcements, which finally gave him the courage to resist. After all, he really wanted to be able to hold Constantinople and restore the There is also a vague hope for the glory of Eastern Rome...

“Sunset in Rome!”

Yang Feng looked at the sunset in the distance.

Then suddenly there was a familiar roar, followed by gravel flying from the wall of a house in front, and a cannonball bounced off the wall and hit a knight who was showing off next to him.

Although the kinetic energy was no longer great, the weight still knocked him into the plate armor.

It is lined inside.

But the problem was that it was all dented, and the lining was useless. The knight screamed and fell off his horse. He fell to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then he tilted his head and died.But there was not much panic around him, and people even gathered around him with great interest, admiring his body. One person found a shell that was severely deformed and even had a piece missing...

"Ten gold coins!"

he shouted.

"Bring it!"

A woman's voice sounded.Then everyone turned around and looked at a carriage with a noble lady sitting in it.

Around thirty years old, tall, gorgeously dressed, and very elegant.

"His Royal Highness."

The man said quickly.

Everyone chaotically saluted their queen, the wife of Manuel II, the future saint Dragash from Serbia. After all, this is a city with a small population. At this time, the total population of the castle is only 5 to [-]. Just population.

At best, it could be considered an ordinary town by modern standards.

In fact, everyone and the Queen looked down and saw each other.

Her Royal Highness the Queen saw that he had no intention of handing it to her, so she had to signal to the maid, who quickly took out ten gold coins and handed them to the Venetian profiteer, and then exchanged them for cannonballs.

"How can such a small thing open our city wall?"

The queen held the cannonball, which actually still weighed six or seven kilograms, disdainfully.

"Your Highness, this is a cannonball that has exhausted its power. Just like an arrow with a maximum range, it cannot penetrate armor at all. If it were at close range, this house would have been penetrated long ago."

A Turkic voice suddenly said.

Both her mother's family and her husband's family were vassals of the Turks, so Her Royal Highness the Queen, who understood the Turkic language, raised her head and looked at Yang Feng who was leading the horse in surprise.

Yang Feng smiled slightly.

"Tatars?"

said the Queen.

"Tatar, infidel, kill him!"

Then several armed ronin shouted happily.

Fat sheep!
Killing at this time is just the right time to rob.

One of them was carrying an axe, and was the first to rush towards Yang Feng, but as soon as he reached Yang Feng, he was slapped in the face by Yang Feng's arm, and then he fell backwards, spraying blood beyond recognition, and fell straight to the ground. Then there was just the twitching.

The other armed ronin were all honest and hesitated to move forward with their weapons in hand.

"Your Highness the Queen, I am just a businessman."

Yang Feng said.

"What did you mean just now?"

Her Royal Highness said.

"I came from the river. I have seen the power of this artillery. The shells in your hand have no power like an arrow with a range limit, but if it is shot at close range, you can easily break more than a dozen armors wearing armor. Soldiers. And this is just a very light artillery shell. They really siege the city cannon. The weight of the shell is ten times that of it. Although I don't know if I can break through your walls, at least it can break a lot of walls. "

Yang Feng said.

"Lie, he is a spy, arrest him!"

the queen suddenly shouted excitedly.

But at this moment, the warning bell on the city wall suddenly rang.

What followed was a thunderous blast of artillery fire, like a summer rainstorm.

However, the direction of the gunfire was not Usküdar, but the Golden Horn.

The queen and everyone ignored Yang Feng and all rushed to the high ground in front. Yang Feng led the horse and followed them. Soon they saw Pella's landmark Christ Tower, which is the core building of the colonial fortress in Genoa. , but now the spire of this fortress is falling.And just as it fell, although it was a bit far away, people could still see that the tower seemed to be changing with the sound of the cannons, because the city wall blocked them from seeing anything else, and the sound of cannons continued. .

It was as if a terrible storm was about to sweep over the city.

"The devils are attacking Pella, they're landing in the north and heading south with artillery, and they're destroying Pella with their cannonballs!"

shouted a man running in from outside the city.

"Ah, these Genoese fools."

The Venetian adulterer said with a smile.

For the Venetians, even at this time, it is worth being happy that the Genoese are unlucky.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Christ Tower suddenly swayed in a way that was visible to the naked eye, followed by a huge cannon sound that was different from other ones. A gap suddenly appeared in the middle of the Christ Tower, and then the upper part of the gap collapsed downwards. Everyone was shocked. In his eyes, this solid fortress turned into ruins.

"Your Majesty the Queen, do you still think I am lying?"

Yang Feng stood behind Her Royal Highness the Queen and said.

The latter turned his head blankly and looked at the strange Tatar.

"Take him back to the palace!"

She said.

After saying that, she walked straight into the carriage.